I hate Letterboxd

A rant about “review culture.”

Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, written by Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci.

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No—I’ve never had a Letterboxd account, and yes, I do enjoy their YouTube videos. But the platform has been a bee in my bonnet ever since I recommended it to my boyfriend over a year ago. He is now an avid Letterboxd user, accumulating an endless to-watch list that he makes his way through, one by one. 

That’s not the problem. The problem is, when I suggest a movie I think he’ll like, he now immediately opens up Letterboxd on his phone. So-and-so rated it this, he’ll say, referencing a user review. 

So-and-so could be anyone. A friend of his I only see him hang out with once a year. A Twitter shitposter he’s never met. Whoever it is he follows on the platform, that person’s one-sentence opinion apparently trumps the trust nurtured over nearly six years with his beautiful, loving girlfriend. We won’t end up watching the movie, because even though I—someone who knows him—thinks he’d like it, an account with the username DildoEnjoyer69 gave it just three stars.